Aboitiz fintech boosts up financing arsenal for MSMEs

MANILA, Philippines — The fintech and open finance platform of the Aboitiz Group has entered into a strategic partnership with UNO Digital Bank to make credit more accessible to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) nationwide.

The partnership between UBX and Southeast Asia’s first full-spectrum digital bank will help further support MSME financing through SeekCap, while providing a wider platform for UNO Digital Bank to reach more customers.

UBX president and CEO John Januszczak said  that SeekCap is the product of the company’s desire to reach MSMEs, who traditionally, have no access to financing to grow their businesses because of the stringent requirements of banking.

“By democratizing access to loans, now with the help of UNOBank, we are not just contributing to the expansion of MSMEs but the economic growth of the Philippines as well,” Januszczak said.

With the alliance, micro entrepreneurs will be able to get financing even in the absence of formal financial data, utilizing the combination of alternative data and psychometric scoring, which further democratizes access to credit to provide the necessary capital to expand their business.

This initiative is done through UBX’ loans marketplace platform, SeekCap.

A convenient alternative to traditional lending companies, SeekCap leverages its partners’ wide user base to offer loans to businesses. Its existing partners include leading online marketplace Lazada and online food and grocery delivery platform foodpanda, among many others.

With the addition of UNO Digital Bank, microentrepreneurs will have a more seamless and digital experience in their entire financing journey.

The partnership makes it possible for potential borrowers to secure a loan term of 12 months and borrow as high as P250,000 without the need for collateral.

Applicants without an approved loan need only check their inboxes for an invitation for a pre-qualified loan application to UNO Digital Bank to know which ones they can avail of for their business.

As one of the credited digital banks of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), UNOBank CEO Manish Bai said it could guarantee that loan offerings are accessible, simple and offer relevant features for our customers.

“We are honored to work alongside UBX in carrying out inclusivity in the form of loan processing for MSMEs as this also plays a significant role in boosting the local financial ecosystem,” Bai said.

SeekCap is an online lending marketplace that offers an end-to-end lending platform solution from loan origination until collection. Through the digital platform, business loans may be processed in as fast as 24 hours, which is significantly faster than the minimum 30-day approval time for most banks.

SeekCap has processed over P27 billion of business loans from more than 65,000 MSMEs.